If you want useful answers, you should at least state which operating system you are using... Also, how full are your hard drive(s)? Did you already try defragmenting them, and deleting all temp files? In some Windows OS, moving folders that have lots of files somewhere else than on the desktop can also help a lot.

Most PCs now come with a restore CD that will wipe the drive clean and reinstall everything to the way it was when the computer was sold. Check to see if you have that. Usually you just boot to that CD and go through a simple menu system confirming that you know you are about to restore the OS.

Be warned that when you do a restore, all your data will be erased. Therefore do a verified backup of your data before you start the restore process.

Thinking back to a situation a year or so ago when a windows update had everybody's compter slowing down.. I did a search on that topic and found this link about shutting down a bunch of Window's Services. [masternewmedia.org...]

I have done some tweaking on Services before, but this article was written last week... Now I am back up to speed... while I will caution anybody that does tweaking on the services to write down what they change and the original settings... I didn't do all of the recomendations but a significant amount of them. I was amazed how it brought me back up to speed and I'm really happy.

Go to: Start.....run, type in msconfig, go to the startup tab, look thru the list of programs that are checked, any of them that don't need to be running, uncheck them.

Start with a few, restart computer, see what happens. If any are browser related or have the words: shop, toolbar, or other spammy words uncheck those also. You can always go back and re-check them if need.

Manual means that the process starts when, say you launch a program, it means that it doesn't automatically start when you start your computer. Disable... stops it cold, won't launch. Please correct me group if I am wrong.

Yes there a bunch of "things" in the Systems on your computer... that's just the way it is, your not doing anything different on a basic level than anybody else.. no worries.

You are just going to have to route out the ones that are system hogs as in the url that I mentioned, those are the ones that get added when you installed new devices, or progams.

As mentioned by another person you can go to run--> msconfig and then see your start ups that may be slowing down your computer.. I use this free program [windowsstartup.com...] it shows and explains things a bit more than msconfig.

For example... when ever you install a new device or maybe a program, use task manager, and or the above program, to see whats running or got place into "startup"... then G--gle it... for example, I installed a sound card... it came with all kinds of stuff.. and on investigation half of the stuff that it loaded I didn't need.. and one app had a known memory leak.

What you do whenever you have an app that you want to know what it is doing... just G--gle it.. you will find a bunch of "helper" websites that are set up specificly to investigate and evaluate every app know to mankind. You'll get the hang of it. You can also use your task manager to see all the muck running. I prefer this free task manager program [sysinternals.com...] from the guys that put out a rootkit evaluation program... [sysinternals.com...] which you should also download and just check your computer for a rootkit once in a while.

I hope I haven't violated any forum rules posting those links...

Unfortunately I am quite a bit of a novice so I can't answer about the touchpad.. but g--gle the apps and you will find if it's junk or need to have. Sorry I took so long to check the forum and respond... I didn't anticipate your questions.

Good luck.

p.s. you first started this question with now your computer is running slower and IE crashes.. Personally.. I think you should be running Firefox.. many would agree. Also... I know my desktop computer gets dirty as Pig Pen in Charlie Brown.. and I'm cleaning out that puppy every three months. For my new laptop that I purchase recently, I bought a cooling fan deck that it sits on, and I went to the hardware store and bought a furnace filter, cut it out of the cardboard case and down to size of the bottom of the laptop between the cooling deck fan and the laptop. I don't travel with the laptop much at all so this is practical for me, especially as I know how dusty my destop gets. My laptop is really a "desktop" laptop.. 17 inch screen, full keypad, etc... What I am saying here is that an over heating motherboard (processor chip) will slow down the computer and Crash it.. and dirt and dust will cause the overheating. I've never cracked open a laptop... but I'd imagine it's no different.